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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Word bank
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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: bound · cold · saw · lash · stem · hide · spell · land

  1. How do you ________________ your surname?
  2. He reached out and took down a small leather ________________ book.
  3. We are ________________ to obey laws.
  4. The spa offers ________________ extensions.
  5. She was laid on a cow-________________ and covered by a coarse woollen blanket.
  6. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  7. We ________________ that the plan would end in failure.
  8. Why are you trying to ________________ your feelings?
  9. The big green plant was starting to droop at the ________________.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. That was ________________ to happen.
  12. He asked the witch to reverse the ________________.
  13. Don't ________________ out at me just because you're upset.
  14. Many English words ________________ from Latin.
  15. He felt the sting of the whip's ________________.
  16. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  17. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  18. The water is too ________________.
  19. Scientists study ________________ cells to repair damaged tissue.
  20. We have nothing to ________________ here.
  21. She's very handy with a ________________.
  22. We've had a long dry ________________ this summer.
  23. He works in a ________________ mill.
  24. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. spell — letters
  2. bound — tied together
  3. bound — obliged
  4. lash — an eyelash
  5. hide — animal skin
  6. cold — an illness
  7. saw — past of 'see'
  8. hide — to keep secret
  9. stem — of a plant
  10. land — to come down
  11. bound — certain
  12. spell — magic
  13. lash — to lash out
  14. stem — to come from
  15. lash — a whip stroke
  16. land — a country
  17. land — ground
  18. cold — not warm
  19. stem — a stem cell
  20. hide — to keep secret
  21. saw — the tool
  22. spell — a short time
  23. saw — the tool
  24. cold — the Cold War

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com